Successful studies have recently been reported suggesting beneficial results with synthetic and artificial surfactant treatment of immature animals and humans with surfactant deficiency. These preliminary applied studies are based on knowledge concerning the composition, function, turnover, and ontogeny of pulmonary surfactant. Therefore, we propose a three day NIH workshop that will bring together basic and clinical scientists who are currently active in areas relevant to the goal of producing and testing an efficacious and nontoxic synthetic surfactant for treatment of pulmonary diseases associated with surfactant insufficiency. We plan to publish a summary of the workshop and expect interest and efforts towards this goal to be stimulated by an analysis of work in progress and current problems.